Friar Tuck’s, a dive bar named for one of Robin Hood’s merry men, is less merry these days — and the owners couldn’t be happier.

Rowdy drinkers and garage bands were the norm at the Pomona bar at 540 E. Foothill Blvd. Even some regulars were leery of going late at night.

But now, the building in the shape of a medieval castle, complete with turrets at the four corners, has undergone — dare I say it? — a renaissance.

Courtesy of the reality-TV series “Bar Rescue,” the bar has had a makeover, inside and out. Most dramatically, the faded gray exterior was painted a dark brown, drawing eyeballs for the first time in years.

The new name is Stein Haus Brau and Brats, a bar with a German-themed menu that has purposely upped its game — and toned things down.

“With the new look, the new name, the new brand, we want to upgrade,” co-manager Sam Marzougui said one recent evening. “We want a better clientele that can appreciate the food and the atmosphere.”

“Bar Rescue” hired local crews who added stone accents to the back bar, built tables and stools, installed carpet, re-felted the pool tables and put in a computerized ordering system — and took down all the old beer signs.

All the work was done in a 42-hour blitz, while the staff trained at the nearby DoubleTree Inn on the new menu, which “Bar Rescue” crafted. Pork schnitzel and bratwurst sandwiches, and German cocktails, are served. (You can read about the food and menu on my blog. Let’s say I was pleasantly surprised.)

“We didn’t come up with the concept, the show did. They were kind of stuck with the castle,” Marzougui explained with a smile.

Among castle-dwelling folk, the English aren’t known for their food and French food isn’t to everyone’s taste, but German food had more popular potential.

The bar, which closed Dec. 2, reopened Dec. 5 as Stein Haus, the staff clad in matching polo shirts. One feature that wasn’t improved was the pothole-filled parking lot; the week the renovation took place, it rained.

Regular Joe McNamara, who’s been drinking there for almost two decades, approves of the overhaul.

“It was needed,” he said with a knowing chuckle.

Friar Tuck’s decrepit interior was more reminiscent of a dungeon than a castle. There was mismatched tile, a vintage cigarette machine and bathrooms graffitied so colorfully they resembled Jackson Pollock paintings. For a two-year stretch, the men’s room had no towels or soap.

A phone used to ring continually with callers asking for patrons. One night, a customer tired of the ringing tore the phone out of the wall.

McNamara recalls his first visit in the mid-1990s. When he and a friend walked in, a burly man threw them a challenge: “What the (expletive) are you guys doing here?”

McNamara took it in stride and kept returning. “There were a lot of maniacs, Vietnam vets…it was a lot of fun,” he said.

We were talking early one recent evening. Things were quiet, with McNamara and Paul Ochsner, who had alerted me to the “Bar Rescue” angle, the only patrons at the bar.

Even though the two retirees loved Friar Tuck’s, they shied away from the late-night crowds. “They’d tear the place up,” McNamara said.

The bands did their part. One night, a drummer tried setting his hair on fire.

Business was up and down, but mostly down. Drastic action was called for, but Marzougui and owner Ivan Vuich didn’t have the resources or know-how.

Marzougui penned a heartfelt plea to “Bar Rescue,” which has made over more than 60 bars in its four seasons on Spike TV. The show sent a team to Pomona for a preliminary interview last spring, then returned in late November after agreeing to take on the bar.

Bartenders are asked frequently when the episode will air. Late February is the latest word.

Stein Haus is just west of Towne Avenue, the border between Claremont and Pomona, yet the difference is stark: landscaping virtually stops and motorists are greeted by a convenience store, a decaying shopping center, welfare hotels, a dirt lot and a shuttered Burger King. Another dive bar, the Hi-Brow, is across from Stein Haus; patrons bar-hop by dashing across the street.

“This part of town needs help,” Marzougui said.

Friar Tuck’s, which opened in 1990, was the longest occupant of the building but not the first.

The castle was built in 1968, about the same time as another piece of roadside architecture, a restaurant a half-mile east in Claremont that resembles a fishing boat.

Originally the castle was Magic Towers, a medieval-themed stand that sold knightburgers, castleburgers and the King Arthur burger, touted as a “triple hamburger with dragon sauce.”

Within two years, an addition made room for a diner and ice cream parlor, and the chef, “Monsieur Leonard,” had trained at the Waldorf Astoria, according to a Progress-Bulletin story.

Owner Monte Radlovic had hoped to expand his empire to other cities and nations, but it’s unclear if any other Magic Towers were developed. By 1978, the business was in new hands and became, incongruously, a Japanese restaurant, first Kyoto Gardens and then Ahso Sushi, according to Pomona Public Library researcher Allan Lagumbay.

A koi pond installed during this period remains. It’s now part of a smokers’ patio.

The building’s shift to a German theme is in keeping with its origins.

The design was based on a Bavarian castle and was inspired by Radlovic’s visits to that region of Germany, he told the Prog.

Any similarities to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland were intended. Radlovic said Magic Towers was in part an homage to “the great Walt Disney and his original interest in Pomona Valley as a location for Disneyland.”

Since 1997, David Allen has been taking up valuable newsprint and pixels at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, where he is a columnist and blogger (insidesocal.com/davidallen). Among his specialties: city council meetings, arts and culture, people, places, local history, dining and a log in a field that resembled the Loch Ness monster. The Illinois native has spent his newspaper career in California, starting in 1987 at the Santa Rosa News-Herald and continuing at the Rohnert Park-Cotati Clarion, Petaluma Argus-Courier and Victor Valley Daily Press. A resident of Claremont who roots for the St. Louis Cardinals and knows far too much about Marvel Comics, the Kinks and Frank Zappa's Inland Valley years, he is the author of two collections of columns: 'Pomona A to Z' and 'Getting Started.'